Geneviève Lhermitte, the woman who murdered her five children one by one in 2007 as revenge on her husband, has been cleared for release from prison to a psychiatric institution. Lhermitte was sentenced to five concurrent life sentences for the murder of her children. The court at the time heard how she had cut their throats one by one, in a process that must have taken an hour in total.
The jury at her original trial refused to take into consideration the psychiatric arguments of the defence, but those now come once again into play. Since her conviction, Lhermitte has remarried with an inmate of the prison in Mons.
The original trial in 2007 heard how Lhermitte had cut the throats of her five children, aged between three and 14 years, in their home in Nivelles. At the time, she was having problems with her husband, the court heard.
The latest ruling allows her transfer from the women's prison Berkendael in Brussels to a psychiatric institution of her choice.
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
The Brussels Times
